When city Senior Planner Libby Grage updated the City Council earlier this week, this is what she presented as the Vision Statement nearing completion by the Community Advisory Committee appointed by Mayor Gere.
Saying the photo of a whiteboard at a recent Committee meeting represented a work in process, she went on to make a more formal presentation with this vision statement for Anacortes, including some minor adjustments by the city Planning Commission.
Anacortes is a unique and friendly marine community that supports cultural diversity and economic vitality, balances sustainable growth with respect for our history, and protects the natural environment for now and the future. Grage said the CAC, as the Committee is called, reviewed materials developed from citywide community meetings, reviewed examples from other Washington communities and engaged in thoughtful discussion to develop a Vision & Values Statement for the 2016 Comprehensive Plan.
Council member Ryan Walters suggested that, rather than the wording “economic vitality, that “economic diversity” should be the most important thing in the statement. He added that Anacortes needs a connection to the wider world, a vibrant waterfront. “I want it to say those key things that every9one talks about.”
Council member Eric Johnson suggested wording to include protecting protecting public forest lands. Fellow Council member Liz Lovelett said she’d like wording that might include an events center. “I want an additional place where I can run into my neighbors.”
The Vision and Values statements will lead into the major 2016 revision of the city’s Comprehensive Plan.
Grage also outlined Values statements tackled by the Committee as:
- Pursue Environmental Sustainability
- Pursue Economic Vitality
- Provide a Supportive & Connected Community
- Embrace a Culture that Celebrates Anacortes’s History
The Community Advisory Committee will continue to massage the Vision and Values statements.